 Wawasee was a signatory to the Treaty of Mississinewas and in 1828 was allotted a small village approximately two and one-half miles southeast of Milford and northeast of Waubee Lake where the town of Syracuse is located.It also included the eastern shores of Turkey Lake "(Lake Wawasee)" effectively bisecting the lake in half with the southern half going to his brother.Early settlers were homesteaders who earned their livelihoods by hunting, fishing, and trapping; with a little farming.